December 23, 2004Yahoo For Privacyi've read a number of accounts where people are up in arms about yahoo not giving a family access to their deceased son's yahoo mail account [story]. i can understand the family being disappointed and in their grief not getting it, but there are two sides to privacy when it comes to communications like email. sure, their son is gone (a fallen soldier no less), but the people he communicated with are presumably still alive and they still have a right to privacy don't you think? perhaps this soldier's girlfriend sent him some steamy email or went all out and sent naked pictures of herself. the mail was sent to him for him. for yahoo or anyone else to demand she lose her right to privacy because he died is simply pushing us all to the edge of yet another slippery slope. we are not even talking about his email as being potential evidence in a wrongful death, it is simply a family that is curious and wants to have a peek at perhaps some of his last thoughts. they are grasping at straws looking for anything to help them deal with their grief and provide closure. i don't fault them for wanting access, but i do take issue with them for demanding it -- for fighting against something their son fought and died for in a strange kind of way. it is sad how so many people are willing to give away the privacy of others.
Posted by ac at December 23, 2004 08:18 PM
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